Number of sex offender registrations in Hall Co. down

GAINESVILLE - The Hall County Sheriff’s Office has reported that the number of registered Sex Offenders in Hall County dropped to under 300 for the calendar year ending 2013.

Lt. Stephanie Gilbert, who is in charge of the Hall County Sex Offender Registry Unit, said the number of registered Sex Offenders in the county had been as high as 308 at the beginning of the year.

Gilbert noted that the Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registry Unit has worked with the Georgia Department of Corrections, state Probation and Parole Office, along with local and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure that offenders residing in Hall County comply with all sex offender registry requirements.

During 2013, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office investigated approximately 30 violations of sex offender registry laws that were turned over to the Hall County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution. The violations ranged from offenders who did not comply with their annual registration requirements to offenders who failed to notify the Sheriff’s Office of changes in their
registered addresses, sleeping locations and employment.

Lt. Gilbert added that the Sex Offender Registry Unit also investigated two separate cases that resulted in individuals being charged with Harboring a Sex Offender. It is a violation of Georgia law for a person to provide a law enforcement officer with false or misleading information with regards to the whereabouts of a registered sex offender.

While all sheriffs in Georgia are constitutionally mandated to maintain a sex offender registry in their counties, Sheriff Gerald Couch noted that in Hall County it is the partnership between his office and the community that has been a key factor in his office’s ability to successfully enforce the sex offender registry laws.

The Hall County Sheriff’s Office website http://www.hallcounty.org/sheriff/sheriff_sexoffendreg.asp provides citizens with the locations of all sex offenders who reside in Hall County.